“I was reading your column today and saw your comments in the GnomeTIP section regarding Lotus Notes… I have to admit, I used to think just like you. A few years back, I was employed as a Network Administrator for a local reinsurance company. Coming from a Microsoft consulting company, I took one look at Lotus Notes as said the same words: 'What a piece of garbage!.' It was my first time administering Lotus Notes, and as I was very used to Exchange and Outlook. However my view points were quickly changed, (right about the time the 'I Love You' virus came out). At that time, our company was not blocking file attachments, and because the AV companies took so long to get the virus patterns out, we had a few come in through our SMTP server, and nothing happened. Why?”

“Because the design of Lotus Notes circumvents any malicious activities from all the mass mailing virus at the moment, although I'm sure some sick deviant with far too much time on their hands will think of something one day. So while most of the rest of the corporate world went down (including our parent company), we remained up and running, without a hitch. As a side note, I very quickly added in ScanMail 2.x on the Lotus SMTP gate to block certain file attachments, I recommend this software if your running Notes!”

“Also the benefits of having databases right in the same application is also a great incentive. Lotus may have difficulty with certain graphic attachments in emails, but from an administrators point of view, seeing pretty pictures and fancy text is something I have no trouble giving up for the stability of Lotus Notes. [It] just does things differently, but in my opinion it is far from garbage. As a matter of fact, every time a vulnerability is exploited in Exchange or Outlook, you'll now hear me say the same about MS Mail solutions! Just my 2 cents worth though…” [Sean Soares]